Jails vs. Schools: which one benefits society?

Back in my old hometown of Austin, MN the school levy referendum failed. It would have raised taxes $84/yr on a $100,000 home. To many, any additional money paid in taxes is too much but this is the same city that approved the construction of a $30,000,000 jail/justice center shared by the city and county. In contrast, the school levy referendum would have provided the school district with just over $1,000,000/yr. in additional operating funds.

Which of the two - schools or a jail - benefits society more in the long run? Schools prepare the next generation for jobs. Those buildings need to be stocked with equipment and teachers who are at the top of their game - they need to be of the highest quality and the best of the best. Schools serve the children of everyone and everyone who has ever reached the age of five has benefitted from schools - the majority benefitting from public schools which are taxpayer funded.

Then there are jails. They are filled with people who didn't see the value or need to abide by our city, state or nation's laws. They are arrested, booked and placed in jail. Some go to trial while many serve their time and consider it their debt to society for doing wrong. In either case, they stay in these buildings on the taxpayer's dime. I see no reason why a jail needs to provide anything beyond the most basic of necessities. The simple fact that jails have televisions anywhere inside them is nothing short of excessive to me. I don't care if the televisions are for employees, visitors, stray cats or those who are locked up - a television is a luxury and is unnecessary if you are being punished for a crime. And housing law breakers in a $30,000,000 building is so far beyond excessive that I can't even think of words for it.

Why do we feel the need to spend $30,000,000 on a building to house criminals when there are millions and millions of square feet of warehouse and commercial space sitting vacant? Is our government so spend happy that even those who many see as the bottom rung of society need a special building to live in at the expense of others? How many cities and counties require their inmates to actually work doing something while they serve their time? I know for certain that in Scott County (Minnesota) the inmates spend every waking hour indoors at the jail. To some the simple fact that they are not allowed outdoors adds to the punishment but I feel that working to pay your debt to society builds more character and could actually lead to a better place for them down the road than sitting around for days on end doing little to nothing.

Yes, inmates, prisoners, criminals - whatever you choose to call them - sit in relative luxury doing nothing while our schools who are asking for far, far less in the way of operating funds have to do without. They do without modern computers and they do without the best teachers because the best teachers realize that they can make more money in private schools.

So, which one - jails or schools - would you rather have your tax dollars spent on?

After you ponder that question, check out the equally compelling MinnPics and take a photographic journey through Minnesota.

The one where I go to jail

I was in jail Saturday. Well, more specifically, I was at the jail on Saturday. Being my first time inside the walls of the old stoney lonesome was an eye-opening experience. First off, it was nothing like those scenes I remember from old Arrested Development episodes where Michael Bluth visited his eccentric father in the slammer.

The first shock was that visits are limited to twenty minutes and it all takes place via video conference. There is no face to face contact through a thick glass window. There is zero contact with the outside world. Maybe those restrictions loosen up some in honest-to-God prison but in jail you are in the cement block building and you'll enjoy it. Or not.

The security is about as restrictive as I expected it to be. You check in using your driver's license and the clerks behind the thick glass window in the office hold your license until you are finished with your visit. The amount of electronic gadgetry is impressive. Of course it's not all that surprising being our tax dollars funded this newish chambe of justice, the Scott Count Justice Center (jail). Funds can be deposited to the spending accounts of jailbirds via an ATM-like device and the chairs in the lobby area were both new and uncomfortable. The tile floor was a cold gray color and already viciously scratched and like everything the government does, the proceedings moved slowly. Things moved so slowly that after arriving at 10:30 AM and filling out a visit request form and presenting our IDs we barely had enough time to fit in the maximum twenty minute visit before the lock the joint up again at 11:30 AM. Yes, that's the speed of government.

MinnPics is free of jail tales but with upcoming fake-cation days and the impending arrival of spring, color will blossom and cheer will take over as vibrant photos flow freely.